| Chapter 1: | Introduction |
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Of course, high educational levels and high academic achievement is not limited to Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, and Korean Americans, and there are wide variations in levels of education and success within these groups, as researchers like Stacey Lee (1996) pointed out. However, sociological studies that look at academic achievement according to ethnic categories show that high educational levels in the home country translate to high educational levels and academic achievement in the host country—if not in the immigrant generation, then in subsequent generations.
Finally, in spite of forging new identities of groupness through political unity, the heterogeneity within the pan-Asian American community cannot be completely dismissed. Lisa Lowe (1996) and others have tried to show diversity within the racialized category of people that has been flattened and grouped in spite of their diversity. While panethnicity tried to co-opt this essentialized paradigm through political unification, the “heterogeneity, hybridity, and multiplicity” (Lowe, 1996) within the panethnic group generationally, culturally, linguistically, ethnically, socioeconomically, and historically does not inspire a single voice. Most organizations and community centers are built around ethnic interests rather than panethnic needs, and although these organizations cater largely to recent immigrants, organizations that cater to the interests of the second generation are growing as well.
Defining or identifying oneself as “ethnic” is not so straightforward due to other competing identities grouped according to age, race, interest, sexual orientation, profession, and level of education, among other categories. Since the 1960s, being ethnic has become accepted and even fashionable for both intrinsic and instrumental reasons. This phenomenon is quite apparent in the 1970 Native Peoples census data that indicates an increase in people identifying themselves as Native American, which could not be accounted for by birth alone.